Houthi movement

Saudi Arabia has resumed indirect talks with Yemen's Houthi movement to cement a faltering ceasefire, sources familiar with the discussions said, as the United Nations pushes for a de-escalation to prepare for a coronavirus outbreak.

The World Food Programme said on April 9 it will halve the aid it gives to people in parts of Yemen controlled by the Houthi movement from mid-April after donors cut funding over concerns the Houthis are hindering aid deliveries.

Turkey welcomed the cease-fire announced by the Saudi-led Arab coalition in Yemen, the Foreign Ministry said on April 9.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen announced on April 8 that its forces would begin a cease-fire starting on April 9, a step that could pave the way for the first direct peace talks between the two sides that have been at war for more than five years.

Saudi-Led coalition intercepted and destroyed drones launched by Iran-aligned Yemen's Houthis towards "civilian targets" in Saudi cities of Abha and Khamis Mushait, state news agency spa said early on March 27, citing the coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki.

Yemen's army said it wrested control of several northern towns from the Iran-backed Houthi rebels on March 9, a step toward reversing the rebels' rapid gains in the strategic area.

Yemeni forces, supported by Saudi airpower, announced on Twitter that they retook cities in the vast Khub Walsha'af district, which borders Saudi Arabia.

The UN has condemned recent airstrikes that killed dozens of civilians in the northern Yemeni province of Al-Jawf.

Houthi rebels said 31 people were killed and 12 others injured in Saudi-led coalition airstrikes in Al-Jawf.

The group said the attacks targeted civilians checking the wreckage of a Tornado fighter jet downed by Houthis a day earlier in the province.

Yemen's Houthi rebels said on Feb. 15 that dozens were killed in Saudi-led coalition airstrikes in northern Yemen.

The attacks targeted a group of people checking the wreckage of a Tornado fighter jet downed by Houthis in Al-Jawf province on Feb. 14, the Houthi-run Al-Masirah television said.

The television, however, did not give an exact toll of the fatalities.

A British law firm filed requests on Feb. 11 with the authorities in Britain, the United States and Turkey to arrest senior officials from the United Arab Emirates on suspicion of carrying out war crimes and torture in Yemen.

Turkey on Jan. 19 condemned the attack of Iranian-backed Houthi rebels that claimed 79 lives people in Marib, western Yemen.

"We condemn the attack mounted by Houthi groups on a government-held military camp in Yemen which caused the death of 70 people and injured a large number of people," said the Turkish Foreign Ministry in a statement.